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'I know, I know, I see them,' Han shouted. It was taking everything he had to maintain control of the ship.

'See what?' Leia asked.

Han pointed out the window at two very bright objects.

'Two more Star Destroyers, and they're heading right at us.'

'I'm glad you said there was going to be no problem,' she commented with more than a touch of sarcasm, 'or I'd be worried.'

The ship rocked under the steady fire from the TIE fighters, making it difficult for Threepio to maintain his balance as he returned to the cockpit. His metal skin bumped and banged against the walls as he approached Han. 'Sir,' he began tentatively, 'I was wondering..."

Han Solo shot him a threatening glance. 'Either shut up or shut down,' Han warned the robot, who immediately did the former.

Still struggling with the controls to keep the Millennium Falcon on course, the pilot turned to the Wookiee. 'Chewie, how's the deflector shield holding up?'

The copilot adjusted an overhead switch and barked a reply that Solo interpreted as positive.

'Good,' said Han. 'At sublight, they may be faster, but we can still out-maneuver them. Hold on!' Suddenly the Corellian shifted his ship's course.

The two Imperial Star Destroyers had come almost within firing range of the Falcon as they loomed ahead; the pursuing TIE fighters and the Avenger were also dangerously close. Han felt he had no choice but to take the Falcon into a ninety-degree dive.

Leia and Chewbacca felt their stomachs leap into their throats as the Falcon executed its steep dive. Poor Threepio quickly had to alter his inner mechanisms if he wanted to remain on his metallic feet.

Han realized that his crew might think he was some kind of lunatic star jockey, pushing his ship on this madman's course. But he had a strategy in mind. With the Falcon no longer between them, the two Star Destroyers were now on a direct collision course with the Avenger. All he had to do was sit back and watch.

Alarms blared through the interiors of all three Star Destroyers. These ponderously massive ships could not respond quickly enough to such emergencies. Sluggishly one of the Destroyers began to move to the left in its effort to avoid collision with the Avenger. Unfortunately, as it veered, it brushed its companion ship, violently shaking up both spaceborne fortresses. The damaged Destroyers began to drift through space, while the Avenger continued in pursuit of the Millennium Falcon and its obviously insane pilot.

Two down, Han thought. There was still a quartet of TIE fighters tailing the Falcon, blasting at its stern with full laser fire, but Han thought he could outstrip them. The ship was buffeted violently by the fighters' laser blasts, forcing Leia to hold on in a desperate attempt to keep her seat.

'That slowed them down a bit!' Han exulted. 'Chewie, stand by to make the jump to lightspeed.' There was not a moment to waste -the laser attack was intense now, and the TIE fighters were almost on top of them.

'They're very close,' Leia warned, finally able to speak.

Han looked at her with a wicked glint in his eyes. 'Oh, yeah? Watch this.'

He threw the hyperspace throttle forward, desperate to escape, but also eager to impress the princess with both his own cleverness and his ship's fantastic power. Nothing happened! The stars that should by then have been mere blurs of light were still. Something was definitely wrong.

'Watch what?' Leia asked impatiently.

Instead of responding, Han worked the lightspeed controls a second time. Again, nothing. 'I think we're in trouble,' he muttered. His throat tightened. He knew 'trouble' was a gross understatement.

'If I may say so, sir,' Threepio volunteered, 'I noticed earlier that the entire main para-light system seemed to have been damaged.'

Chewbacca threw back his head and let out a loud and miserable wail.

'We're in trouble!' Han repeated.

All around them, the laser attack had increased violently. The Millennium Falcon could only continue at its maximum sublight velocity as